Got Friends latest release is a slightly smaller and lighter plane than I’m used to. I often find myself in the general aviation category and up to some big airliners. But its refreshing to hop into something small, simple, and something more in tune with Microsoft Flight Simulator’s live weather system. Got Friends have given the A-32 quite a long list of features and its remarkably capable at flying almost anywhere. But watch out for the winds! What do I mean by that? Read on into the review!

Disclaimer

Got Friends sent me over a beta version of the aircraft back several weeks ago which helped give me a sneak peak at the aircraft. I wrote a journal about it at the time. Then they set me up with a free copy for review. As is my policy, I always disclose when that has happened and I also always assure readers that my opinions are my own and nobody else has any editorial say over my reviews.

A bit of history

Aeroprakt got its start in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1991 around the time of the fall of the Soviet Union. It’s chief designer, Yuri Yakovlev, worked for Antonov while designing a number of small aircraft types. Yakovlev would join Oleg Litovchenko to form the company which reportedly has around 50 employees in modern times. Aircraft built by the company have been mostly kit builds and small experimental types, however, a few like the A-32 have also been pre-assembled and it is this aircraft that we’re focused on for the review.

Aeroprakt’s A-32 is a further development of their earlier A-22. The A-32 uses the same 100 hp (75 kW) Rotax 912ULS engine but manages better performance thanks to a improved fuselage design, shorter wing, shorter struts, and a better wing tank fairing – adding up to 20 extra knots of speed. That’s quite remarkable because this is an aircraft that tops out around 115 knots cruise and a never exceed speed of just 125 knots. On the other end of the envelope, the stall speed is an almost ludicrously low 27 knots. Half that of a Cessna 152.

The company has setup facilities in the US and Europe and aircraft have been shipped all over the world. The A-32 is reportedly still in production as of 2025.

Visuals and sounds

Got Friends typically do great work on their visuals and the A-32 is very much in keeping with their style. The aircraft visually has plenty of details inside and out and despite its simple overall appearance. I really appreciate the small sculpted aerodynamic elements of the nose, the ever so slightly forward swept wing profile, landing gear suspension, and even the aircraft’s rivets which hold up under extraordinarily close scrutiny.

The same can be said in the cabin with sharp, detailed, beautifully modeled details through and through. The gauges on the analog version (more on that in a bit) have beautiful reflections and the grain on the seat fabric, the wires, the handles, and everything else really show a careful attention to detail throughout. It’s functional at night and the lighting strips are great! This is small and simple airplane so it pays to really get the details right everywhere and they have.

There’s also some great physics basic animations like a small ringed booklet that rattles back and forth in turbulence and to the engine’s own shake. The aircraft rocks back and forth from the torque while on the ground, even the starter key shakes slightly while flying along. Lots of little nods to realism that help make the aircraft feel real.

The aircraft comes with 12 liveries with mostly brightly coloured options matching the real world order book. Every livery works on every variant so you don’t have to pick and choose.

The sounds on the A-32 are also good. The start-up, shut down, and engine throttle sounds are convincing and can even be soothing with the doors on. Alternately, they can be slightly brain rattling with them off – though you can mute that with a headset switch. Covers make a convincing wind noise as they dangle in the wind too which is a nice touch. There are switches in the cockpit which don’t appear to have any sounds and I think I’d have loved to hear some clicky or clacky (why not both!) kinds of sounds when flicking them.

Systems, features and modifications

Four variants are available with this aircraft and they relate to the avionics and the tire configuration. You can have a glass cockpit setup which optionally includes the PMS50 and TDS GTNXi avionics add-ons (sold separately). Alternatively, you can sport the analog cockpit with a more traditional six-pack setup and a GNS530. Both cockpits have available full autopilot and IFR capabilities so you can take this one on a long cross country flight and go hands off the controls for a while if you want.

For the gear, you can choose between standard tires which are a smaller diameter with wheel pants. Perfect for typical runway configuration. Or you can plan to do a little off field landing operations and take out the tundra tires with no wheel pants and a larger diameter. That turns it into a STOL style bushplane capable of some off field ops. You can guess which one I like flying more!

Not done yet! A small multi-ring booklet located on the pilots side is interactive and can pop up infront of you for some extra features. You can toggle the aircraft covers and wheel chocks here (or externally in 2024), toggle gear accessories, turn on and off the tail registration, switch on and off the cabin doors, add an angle of attack indicator, and add in an additional tablet. The additional tablet adds a 3D model version of the MSFS EFB system with all of the functionality and capability that is offered there.

Some other features include a headset toggle (so you can dull the noise of the engine) and sounds that adjust depending on if you have the doors on or off.

Got Friends also like to put something a little extra into many of their products. For the A-32, it’s McKnight Airfield (5OI8). This is a custom scenery product produced by Got Friends that ships with the product. Real world A-32’s train out of this field located in rural Ohio so it makes thematic sense to include it.

The scenery has sharp details not just on the immediate field itself but around it with added livestock and farm equipment as well as the airfield facilities itself.

I do think the floodlights at night are a little over done but the rest of the scenery is, for a small intimate little airport, just perfect. It’s great for an A-32!

How it flies

The A-32 is an ultra light or sport plane category aircraft and that comes with some capabilities and limitations. I’ve already mentioned the low stall speed of 27 knots. You can almost hover this aircraft in for a landing at virtually any airstrip that’s capable of handling a fixed wing airplane. I can see this being a fun competitor in the eSTOL competitions or you can just practice landing this thing in all kinds of incredible places!

The handling of this aircraft can be summed up generally as being very responsive. Aileron and rudder control is slightly above average while the elevator is particularly sensitive. It is a light airplane after-all and it really feels like it! You have to really have a careful hand on the controls too as it leaps into the air. On landings, it can settle gently or you can accidentally slam it into the ground if you’re not doing your approach right.

Crosswinds and weather conditions are a significant consideration with this airplane. Moreso than most aircraft I’ve tested. The real world aircraft has a 14-knot crosswind limitation and there have been airports, with real world weather on, where I tried to do a 14-knot takeoff and it was very difficult to try and keep things together at that speed. So they weren’t kidding about it in the real world and in the virtual world you may want to dial in your own weather settings if you’re faced with that kind of situation.

Flying in turbulent conditions can be challenging too. I did some flying from Milford Sound in New Zealand, Seward in Alaska, and Bella Coola in Canada – all mountainous regions. In those places, you can get knocked around by the turbulence off the mountains in ways that you may not notice in other larger aircraft. A little bump in another aircraft is something that may throw you a few hundred feet up or down in the A-32.

Those considerations aside, this is a really fun airplane to fly. Its delightful actually! You just kind of point the nose and try and ride the wind. It shows off what MSFS 2024’s flight dynamics are capable of when combined with its live weather system. I feel like Got Friends really dialed in the flight model to make it lively and interesting and it doesn’t suffer from some conventional MSFS issues like being overly floaty in the ground effect.

Final thoughts

Got Friends do great work and this is yet another success story for this developer. The A-32 Vixxen wasn’t anywhere on any of my wish lists prior to me flying it. Ultralight or sport aircraft are not something I frequently dream about flying in the sim either, however, I think this developer picked the right airplane to model. This is a seriously fun one with some great flexibility of operation from training flights to cross country to bush flying… you can do it all with some considerations for the live weather.

The visuals are excellent, the sounds generally good, and the flight modeling is very enjoyable. The added cockpit options, avionics and walkaround features help round out an excellent list of features. And then there’s the custom scenery which is a nice to have as a kind of bonus feature.

This is a quality product with quite a bit of extra features heaped onboard given how simple the real world airplane really is. You do pay a bit of a premium with the aircraft coming in at $25 USD which is above the pricing for some of the Famous Flyers and Local Legends but underneath the fanciest GA types up in the $40-60 USD range. It’s a good middle ground.

If you really like the sport plane ultralight category, the A-32 by Got Friends is a great little aircraft. It’s available for both MSFS 2020 and 2024 with more features, like the walkaround mode, for 2024. Fun and fully featured, if you find yourself interested by this type of plane I can highly recommend it!

Learn more about and purchase the A-32 Vixxen from Got Friends right here.

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